What Is the Relationship Between Pravrutti, Nivrutti and Yoga?

[A question by Dr. Annapurna]

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

Swami replied:- Pravrutti is worldly life related to the behaviour of one soul to the other souls in the society. This is called social behaviour of the soul, in which the soul is expected to keep the society happy, at least keep the society without any unhappiness. Nivrutti is purely personal related to spiritual upliftment of the soul. Pravrutti aims at the welfare and development of the society whereas nivrutti is aimed at the personal welfare and personal development of the soul. Nivrutti is based on pravrutti since if the society is unhappy, an individual can’t be happy and develop the self. Pravrutti is the foundation and nivrutti is the castle built on it. Yoga means meeting or attainment. Dhana Yoga means attainment of money. Putra Yoga means attainment of children. In spiritual line, yoga means attainment of God or atleast the attainment of God’s grace. Devotees interested in the personal attainment of God to serve God personally (directly), have to recognize the contemporary human form of God. If devotees are interested only in the attainment of grace of God, they can serve the statues and photos of God by which also God is pleased. But, the service to God in person directly pleases God to the extent of climax because such worship is direct worship (Saakshaat Upasanam). Worship of statues and photos is indirect (Pratiika Upaasanam) and does not please God so much. If some body gives you food directly, you are pleased very much. If somebody says that he/she offered food to your photo, will you be pleased so much?

Yoga itself is the subject, which is the result of combination of pravrutti and nivrutti. Yoga is in eight stages, which are Yama, Niyama, Aasana, Praanaayaama, Pratyaahaaraa, Dhaarana, Dhyaana and Samaadhi. The first stage, Yama itself is pravrutti. The second stage Niyama itslef is nivrutti, which is extended upto Samaadhi. Therefore, the first stage of Yoga is pravrutti, which is for the welfare of the society. The second stage is nivrutti, which is personal development extended upto the final eighth stage. The first stage of Yoga (Yama) is the foundation whereas the other seven stages (Niyama to Smaadhi) are nivrutti or personal development of the soul.

Let us analyse the first stage or Yama, which is in five sub-steps:- 1) ahmisaa (non-violence), 2) satyam (truthfulness or sincerity), 3) asteyam (not to steal others money without their knowledge), 4) brahmacharyam (not to have illegal sex) and 5) aparigraha (not to fool others and steal their money with their knowledge as in corruption etc.). All these five sub-steps are very clearly related to the welfare of the surrounding society.

Let us analyse the second stage, Niyama, which is also in five sub-steps:- 1) Shaucham (to maintain external as well as internal purity, 2) Samtushti (to have self-satisfaction with whatever is given by God to you and not to have ambition to rob others), 3) Tapah (climax interest in God about knowing the full details of God, about the theoretical love to God and about practical devotion to God by sacrifice of service and fruit of work), 4) Svaadhyaaya (constant memorization of the spiritual knowledge, theoritical devotion and practical devotion to God) and 5) Eshvara Pranidhaana (total surrender and dedication to God). Based on these five sub-steps of Niyama, the other six steps, Aaasana (physical and mental stability), Praanayaama (purification of blood by retaining the inhaled oxygen for more time, called Kumbhaka), Pratyaahaara (initial effort to withdraw from the worldly bonds so that sometime is allotted to hear about God), Dhaarana (to fix oneself in a specific form of God or Sadguru), Dhyaana (to develop the concentration on the fixed form of God) and Samaadhi (to have unshakable determination on the fixed God).

Therefore, pravrutti and nivrutti form the eight steps (ashtaanga) of yoga.

If you displease God in pravrutti (by doing sins in the worldly life), how can the same God be pleased with you in nivrutti (with your devotion)? Either you have to wash your cloth gently wth soap to remove its impurities or the washerman will wash it rudely. Either you have to reform slowly yourself using divine knowledge and devotion to remove your bad qualities (api chet sa duraachaarah… - Gita) or the servants of God Yama in the hell will reform you rudely after death!

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